It’s Worth Writing

This past summer Daniel and I lead one of our photography trips to see the brown bears in Alaska. While departing from Kodiak Island, Alaska Airlines forced me to check my carry-on that enclosed our video camera. I was fuming! Throughout the trip this bag was fine as a carry-on and Alaska Airlines did not offer carry-on service for larger carry-ons for this leg of the trip.

Upon my return home my bag arrived empty—yep, the camera was gone. I knew checking this bag was a no-no and the Alaska Airlines agents in Bozeman said it should not have been checked, but how long do you argue with the ticketing agent?

I put in a claim with my local Alaska Airlines and wrote a letter requesting to be reimbursed for my expense of the camera. Of course I received a generic letter stating they were not responsible for electronics and I should file a claim with the police authorities. All I could think of was what state should I put the claim in—Alaska, Washington, or Montana—since I don’t know where throughout my trip it was stolen. This was useless but I did decide to write another letter with details stating the whole situation and they should look at each claim based on the details and that they should not be protecting thieves within their organization. It was not a nasty letter (even though this was what I wanted to send) but straightforward and sincere.

A month had past… At this point I figured I was wasting my time with the ordeal. Then one day I received an envelope addressed from Alaska Airlines in the mail. I was in utter shock with what the enclosed letter stated, ”This situation is not an example of the service we strive to provide, and I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Upon review of your claim we are paying the amount of two thousand eight hundred dollars. In addition as a customer service gesture, below is an electronic certificate for a fifty dollar discount off a future ticket purchase.” I was doing a jig with joy! Thank you Alaska Airlines for taking responsibility. It’s worth writing!